Limbaugh: Will Obama's Personal Popularity Save Him From His Record?

By David LimbaughJune 8, 2012 6:57 am

Text Size:AAA

On my book "tour" to promote my new book, "The Great Destroyer," hosts keep asking me to explain how President Obama can maintain high personal approval ratings when his policies are unpopular and his record is abysmal.

I first want to challenge the underlying assumption. I don't believe that President Obama is as well-liked or, at this point, even as likable as he is reputed to be. He hasn't behaved in office as a person most would consider "likable."

Assuming these polls are being accurately reported, I tend to think that many people are responding favorably to the question of whether they like Obama personally largely because the media narrative has been and remains that he is likable.

When the media keep pounding us with the notion that he is likable, people may fear they are revealing their own personal failings if they confess that they aren't particularly fond of him. It could make them look out of step or expose them as negative people.

People are much likelier to be candid in the privacy of the polling booth, but even if I'm wrong about this, I don't believe that people will allow their personal fondness for Obama to outweigh their assessment of the disastrous consequences of his policies, which are far more relevant to their lives and to their children's future than their personal opinion of his likability.

So what about his behavior and his demeanor supports the media narrative that he is eminently likable?

From the outset, the media have portrayed Obama as a uniter, a post-partisan, a man who wants to bring us together as one as he ushers in his new era of hope and change for America. Even after more than a year of his intentionally divisive and hyper-partisan behavior, they were depicting him as a man committed to conciliation and compromise.

In fact, at one point, as I chronicle in my book, the media reported that Obama and his advisers had made a conscious decision to change their approach to dealing with Republicans. Henceforth, Obama would be more combative, be more aggressive, be more partisan and take his case to the American people in stark terms, showing the dangerous contrast between his policies and those of Republicans.

This was after Obama had already engaged in incredibly divisive behavior by behaving as a bully toward his opponents and others he routinely singled out for vilification and treating Republicans as though they were not entitled to a seat at the table of government.

Obama's behavior has been consistently unpresidential. His gross narcissism has been on display from the outset; he has refused to accept responsibility for his policies; he has blamed President George W. Bush for his own economic policies; he has accused Republicans of being hostage takers, of wanting a small America and dirtier air and water, of having no compassion for the poor and disabled, of wanting to wipe out basic protections for people, and of refusing to rebuild our infrastructure because they don't care about our crumbling roads and bridges.

Instead of bringing Americans together in a spirit of unity and harmony, he has divided us through the aggressive exploitation of identity politics, appealing to us and pitting us against one another according to groups and categories -- race, gender, sexual preference, ethnicity and economic class. He has made specific overt appeals to Latino and black voters to support him on the basis of their race and told them that Republicans do not have their best interests in mind. He has demonized oil companies, private jet owners, insurers, financial institutions and people who earn substantially more money than other Americans. He has fomented a war between labor and management.

He has continued to apologize for and criticize America and told foreigners on foreign soil that Americans distrust Islam and think of Indians as people in call centers, and he has told military members at a White House barbecue that the Framers were men of property and wealth.

While he has wagged his finger at corporate America, jet owners and Republicans for their greed and profligacy, he has gallivanted around the world and the nation spending millions of taxpayer dollars on his own campaigns and on lavish vacations, having sent his wife and dog, respectively, on separate jets on occasion.

For these and many other reasons, I'm not convinced Obama is perceived as particularly likable by the American people any longer, but even if he is, I am sure that any personal fondness people may have for him will not blind them to his disastrous record, which is driving America inexorably toward financial bankruptcy.

---

David Limbaugh is a writer, author and attorney. His latest book, "The Great Destroyer," is available now. Follow him on Twitter @davidlimbaugh and his website at www.davidlimbaugh.com.

COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM

VN:F [1.9.6_1107]

Rate this post:

please wait...

Rating: 9.8/10 (62 votes cast)

Limbaugh: Will Obama's Personal Popularity Save Him From His Record?, 9.8 out of 10 based on 62 ratings

15 Comments

Comment by inluminatuo June 8, 2012 @ 8:37 am

Unfortunately for Obama, there are legions of swing voters who would never say they dislike this president personally for fear of being labeled a racist, but will quickly cull him out in the voting both for what he has done or failed to do to their bank accounts, Jobs and homelessness.

Parents of wayward smiling happy but deluded confused children on drugs still love them for whatever joy they bring to their lives and forgive the pain that ensues because they understand they are enthralled to a foreign substance that has removed their will and ability to think and act responsibly. They love them none the less. However they certainly would not give them a blank check or credit card or co-sign a loan to continue to empower the destructive addiction that is destroying their lives and the family. The same applies to Obama’s addiction to an ideology of unrealistic unworkable liberal insanity. It’s time to take away the credit card, take away the car keys, dry up his funding and send the entire Democrat Party back to re-hab with tough love, but firm discipline. The fault lies not with the American Constitutional parent that gave him and his party life, but with the failed subsequent personal choices and life decisions taken to ignore the wisdom and rules laid down by the loving parent who looked away in denial of the creeping destructive behavior that always follows the ingestion of the destructive dependency drug of Liberalism. His popularity may save him from his record, but will never save him from himself, or us from his destructive Presidential behavior.

Inluminatuo: You’re exactly right. Obama has had more than enough [time] to show what he is all about. The American people now have a real good understanding where he’s coming from [and I might add: they have no desire to follow him off the cliff]. The only choice we have is to replace this impostor with someone who can run a government. I [personally] would be thrilled to see a Republican Senate, Republican House, and Romney as President. With that tandem we could begin to reverse the havoc that the community-organizer-in-chief has wreaked upon this great country.

One thing I’ll say as he departs:

Good riddance to bad rubbish!

VN:F [1.9.6_1107]

Rate this comment:

please wait...

Rating: 4.9/5 (13 votes cast)

Comment by KBB June 11, 2012 @ 1:05 am

I don’t find Obama likable at all. It’s obvious to me that he is a phony when he cracks that wide grin that makes him look like The Joker. We know he hates whites and America and Americans. So it makes me dislike him when he pretends to like these things. I can see where people polled would not admit to disliking him. Even anonymously to a pollster, no one wants to be wrongly seen as racist. Disliking him has nothing to do with race. He’s quite despicable as a human being.

VN:F [1.9.6_1107]

Rate this comment:

please wait...

Rating: 5.0/5 (2 votes cast)

Comment by downdraft June 11, 2012 @ 10:38 am

Well, I hear what you are saying…but my evaluations are mostly on the “profiles of the majority”…i.e. are they the types who would be the most likely to believe his verbal garbage, the media’s verbal garbage, and if they truly represent the majority…of the electoral college .

VN:F [1.9.6_1107]

Rate this comment:

please wait...

Rating: 5.0/5 (2 votes cast)

Comment by JDZ June 8, 2012 @ 9:46 am

The MSM, who has been bootlicking Obama from the onset, is running out of positive talking points to continue substantive support of the President. They are down to, “he is a likable person and good Father and husband”, and there we have it. Our leader of the free world has fumbled the ball in just about every arena that really matters to our country, but he still deserves to be President because he is a nice guy.
How sad is that?

There is this classic concept called the “Peter Principle” where a person is promoted into the next higher level of responsible job in spite of the fact that this person is not ready or capable of being able to perform the responsibilities of this new level position. What the experts teach us is that it is critical for the individual to acknowledge to himself or herself just where this trip point is in their abilities versus the job requirements and to avoid the enticement to take the job anyway. The lesson is to manage your growth in capability to a reasonable promotion path and to avoid being caught in this “Peter Principle” disaster that can be a career killer because the job does not get done and the person attempting to perform in a job that is over his head is a “no win” on all accounts.

Barack Obama has exceeded his Peter Principle, and his tenure as President has been a disaster and that is too bad for both him and the country. It is not about his IQ but more about his experience base coupled with his ideological mindset, and Obama missed it on both counts. He has to be replaced.

When you look at his track record, there should be no concern at all about him being re-elected. But as with your friend, Mona, there are those out there who see only what they wish and will vote accordingly. SOOOOOOOO, I am hoping and praying that enough people will vote who actually do care more about his policies than his personality! Is so, we might have a fighting chance of ridding ourselves of him in November. But even with him gone, we need to remember who else is in office and either rid us of them or really pay attention to what they are up to and act accordingly! Reid and Pelosi are not just a pair of fun-loving folks who are there to do your bidding! And they are just a couple of the big dogs in the kennel.

VN:F [1.9.6_1107]

Rate this comment:

please wait...

Rating: 5.0/5 (16 votes cast)

Comment by galex June 8, 2012 @ 3:30 pm

Mona, maybe a ball bat would work.

No, probably not. Your friend sounds a little ditsy, and a bat up the side of the head wouldn’t help that.

VN:F [1.9.6_1107]

Rate this comment:

please wait...

Rating: 4.9/5 (12 votes cast)

Comment by bna42 June 8, 2012 @ 1:45 pm

“It could make them look out of step or expose them as negative people.”

It might also cause them to be identified in one of Obama’s campaign ads as the “enemy”.

“Obama had already engaged in incredibly divisive behavior by behaving as a bully toward his opponents and others he routinely singled out for vilification and treating Republicans as though they were not entitled to a seat at the table of government.”

He is a Chicago-style politician who understands nothing but bullying and intimidation.

He’s not even remotely likeable by a sane, thoughtful intellect. I’m a father, a husband, working man and American and this dope insults every point of my life. I’m totally sick of the crack head, I NEVER thought he spoke well, NEVER saw him as clean, knew from the beginning he was a clueless, ignorant, low class race baiter. I like his cow of a wife even less…..

Why should we be expected to like him? He is a Marxist who was raised outside of the U.S., he has done everything he can to “fundamentally transform” this country into something we don’t want, and his wife has stated publicly that she wasn’t proud of the U.S. until he was elected, so why should we be proud of him or her?

VN:F [1.9.6_1107]

Rate this comment:

please wait...

Rating: 5.0/5 (11 votes cast)

Comment by geoinsd June 8, 2012 @ 5:27 pm

As my friends will attest, I have been regularly asking for the last three years why Obama is “likeable”. I don’t find him likeable at all for all of the reasons Mr. Limbaugh cites and many more.

Not being likeable isn’t necessarily so terrible, but in Obama’s case it is. The things that make him unlikeable to me makes him perform poorly as president. In fact, I would say that most of Obama’s personal defects affects his performance as president. For example, his snubbing of Mr. Netanyahu. That was not only EXTREMELY RUDE, such behavior diminishes the stature of the United States and of the presidency. There was absolutely no excuse for how Mr. Netanyahu was treated by Mr. Obama. Even being an *sshole is not sufficient an excuse.

Mr. Obama’s race/class warfare divides our country and will likely prove to damage the US beyond the term of his presidency. I could go on and on.

Mr. Obama is “hip” and “cool”, but I don’t find him likeable at all. He insults me almost daily, calling me a hater, compassionless, a hater of non-whites due to my Tea Party sympathies (and I am not even white), a Flat Earther (and I am an accomplished engineer involved in the development of early data communications technologies), cling to my guns and religion because I am afraid (I only fear his “fundamental transformation of America; I deeply believe my religion and guns are fun in addition to being tools to preserve our safety and liberties and tools to feed ourselves in times of famine – sometimes I wonder if God made quick breeding/growing animals for converting inedible (to humans) organic matter to edible matter), and the list goes on. Mr. Obama says something daily that is an insult to me. There has never been a president in my lifetime (I am 50). Mr. Obama is definitely NOT likeable.

I am glad to see that I am not the only person who has been dumbfounded by the notion of Mr. Obama’s supposed “likeability”.

I have learned a lot this evening, not the least of which is I and a lot of other people have never liked Ozero and when he was elected, I felt overwhelmed by ‘knowing’ we had a [clueless pres]. I understand in reading the comments that I can feel like I’ve been lacking something and really needing something: A sane and responsive leader for our country. I don’t know how this election in November will pan out [I'm not a forcaster of the future], but my gut feeling is that a great American uprising is in the works; in which Mr. Ozero had better be packing and loading the moving vans for his trek back to his ‘beloved’ Chicago.